Dark Moon Rising
by siobhab-bhan
Summary: Meaghan is a part of a pack that lived in Beacon Bills with the Hales until the fire. She stayed behind when her pack moved away, and she started living a normal life. That is until her best friend Derek arrives to investigate his sister's death, and one of the students she tutors is bitten by the murderous alpha. Basically a retelling of Teen Wolf with my OC.
1. Chapter 1

"Leave a message," the prerecorded voice of Laura Hale said before a flat beep.

"Hey Laura, it's Meaghan, again. I'm officially freaking out. Where the hell are you? If this is one of those typical Hale moments where you just go off on a whim, I don't know, just call or something." As she hung up the phone, Meaghan let out a sigh and slumped back in her chair. Laura had gone out the night before, and Meaghan had not heard from her since. Even though Meaghan was not a Hale, she cared about Laura like a sister. Their packs had both lived in Beacon Hills until the incident, and though the packs had their minor disputes now and again, they managed to get along well enough to live in the same town.

Meaghan was woken from her thoughts by her cell phone going off. Disappointment filled her as she saw the name Melissa McCall on the caller I.D.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hi Meaghan, I hope this isn't a bad time."

"No, not at all. What can I do for you?" She asked as she turned on her computer.

"I just wanted to let you know that today was Scott's first day back at school, so he probably is going to need tutoring to start up again soon." For the past two years, Meaghan had been tutoring Melissa's son.

"Of course, I'll call him later and set something up."

"Alright, thanks so much." Meaghan was about to respond when something caught her eyes on her computer.

"Uh, no problem. Sorry, I have to go help my roommate with the groceries."

"Oh yeah, I'll let you go. Bye."

"Bye." Slamming the phone down, Meaghan directed her attention to the screen of her laptop. The local news was up, and Meaghan had a sinking feeling that she knew where Laura was.

"Shit."

************************************************** *********LINE BREAK********************************************* *****

* * *

Running through the woods, Meaghan's heart was racing. There was only one place Laura would go if something happened. If she was alive...If that body was not her, she would be at the house. Meaghan was close enough to the house now that she could hear voices talking. She stopped running and tried to listen in. To her surprise, it was Scott McCall and his ever faithful sidekick Stiles. That kid was always interrupting Scott's tutoring sessions.

Meaghan was brought back from her thoughts by a their voice. A voice that was all too familiar.

"This is private property," she heard him say. Deciding it was best to intervene, Meaghan moved forward, ending up behind the two teenagers.

"Scott, Stiles, what are you doing here?" They turned around, utterly shocked at her arrival.

"Meaghan?! Why are you here?" Stiles asked, and Meaghan inwardly groaned. She was not in the mood to talk with these kids, she just wanted to see Derek..

"Scott, your mom wants to set up some tutoring. Call me later so we can figure something out."

"Ok, but why-"

"Stiles does your dad know you're out here?" Meaghan asked, knowing it would do the trick.

"Look, we're just looking for something, but forget it." Scott said. Just then, without a word, Derek tossed him something. It was Scott's inhaler. The two teens departed, and Meaghan looked Derek in the eyes for the first time in years.

"Hi," was all she could manage. What was a person supposed to say to her best friend after everything that had happened. It had been ages since they had seen each other, and something seemed different about Derek. Then again, Meaghan undoubtedly had changed since they last saw each other.

"Laura was staying with you?" The sinking feeling returned to her stomach. Though the two of them had been separated for quite some time, they had no problem communicating without much talking.

"I'm so sorry," was all she said as she walked over and hugged Derek. He tensed at the touch, but nevertheless wrapped his arms around her.

"We've got bigger problems," he told her as the hug ended.

"What?"

"That Scott kid was bitten by the wolf who killed Laura."

"And?" Meaghan did not understand where he was going with this.

"Meg, it was an alpha."

************************************************** *****LINE BREAK********************************************* *****

* * *

The remnants of the Hale house were just as morose as Meaghan remembered. It was impossible to make out the home that it used to be. Meaghan was sitting on the stairs next to Derek, processing everything that he told her. Unknowingly, she had begun plucking at her lower lip. It was a bad habit of hers that came out when she was nervous or in deep thought.

"You know I'll help," she told him, and the trace of a smile appeared on his face.

"Yeah, I know." He paused before continuing to speak. "I went to see Peter and saw the flowers." Meaghan was not surprised that he knew she put them there. No one else would.

"I bring new ones every week. I can't stand wilting flowers."

"Is he why you're still in this town?" Here it was, the confrontation.

"No. I stayed 'cause of college and my job."

"Meg, your pack is on the other coast. You're an omega."  
"No, I'm not. My mom calls me every night, I visit them for holidays, and I take care of the old house in case they decide to move back. I'm not an omega, I'm just trying to live a normal life." She had not wanted to sound so vicious, but that is how it came out. There was a pregnant pause before Derek spoke.

"Kathleen calls you everyday?" He said with a touch of laughter in his voice.

"Shut up," she said, shoving him.

Seeing him made her realize how much she missed him. They had been inseparable growing up.

"You can stay with me if you want. I'm sure my roommate won't mind."  
"I'm all set," he told her.

"What, are you going to stay here," she joked. He did not respond, only raising his eyebrow a bit. "Oh God, you are staying here. Look, at least stay in my family's house. It's just a little dusty and there are some bugs and something that might be asbestos, but it's gotta be better than this place."  
"I thought you were taking care of the house?" He asked with a smirk.

"Hey, it's a lot of work. I couldn't even keep my room clean as a kid."

"Oh, I know." Derek smiled as he stood up, reaching down to help Meaghan stand.

"Seriously, Der, if you need anything, I'm here for ya." He just nodded his head. "Well, I should go." Just as she was opening the door, Derek spoke.

"Keep an eye on him."

"Of course," she said before leaving the house with the feeling that everything was about to change.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where the hell have you been?" Meaghan had barely taken one step into the coffee shop she ran with her friend Rachel when the question was thrown at her. Sure enough, that disgruntled voice came from tall brunette standing behind the counter. The few customers that were there glanced up at the disruption, then quickly averted their eyes back to their drinks.

"I texted you saying there was an emergency," Meaghan said as she slid behind the counter.

"Ok, um, I know I said I wouldn't ask a lot about that girl who's been staying with us, but she's really suspicious. I don't want you getting wrapped up in something bad."

"Nothing's going on. I promise." Meaghan busied herself by tying her mane of red hair back to distract from the lie. She hated lying to people, which was ironic seeing as she had to cover the fact that she was a werewolf from everyone.

"If you say so," her friend responded before going to wipe down a table.

Meaghan leaned back, resting her head on a cabinet. It had been years since she dealt with werewolves. The past years had been spent trying to move on from the fire that took not only most of the Hales, but a few of her own. The image of a half dead Peter haunted her every night.

"Meaghan, go get some more napkins from the back," Rachel called to her.

"'Kay," she responded. As she walked down the hall to the storage closet, Meaghan heard the door to the shop open and the footsteps of a man entering. In the closet, Meaghan found a box of napkins and grabbed it before walking out to the front of the store. She found Sheriff Stilinski standing at the counter talking to Rachel.

"Hi, Meaghan," he greeted her. She could see heavy circles under his eyes. Given the events of the previous night, he probably had not gotten much sleep.

"Long day?" She asked as Rachel made up his usual coffee.

"That's the least of it. It's the kid's first day of school, so on top of working a case, I have to worry about what he's going to get up to."

"Stiles is actually a really smart kid." It was true, Stiles often sat in on Scott's tutoring sessions, and the teen definitely knew the material.

"Yeah, that's usually followed with a 'but he doesn't focus.'" Meaghan laughed at how disgruntled the sheriff sounded. Rachel handed him his drink before ringing it up at the register. As he departed, Meaghan could not help but pity the sheriff. He was going to get nowhere with investigating Laura's death. Eventually it would just be written off as an animal attack like all the other times.

* * *

Meaghan ran through the woods. Smoke filled the air, and the fire filled all of her other senses. In the distance she saw the Hale house. It was utter carnage. She kept running, maybe it was not too late. Maybe people got out. She was almost at the house, but then it disappeared. She spun around, trying to figure out where she was. Looking down, she found herself standing in a center of a red spiral.

"Meaghan," a voice called out, but she was too entranced by the pattern below her. Just looking at it overwhelmed her with a plethora of emotions; rage, grief, loneliness. She wanted to do something about the mark, but found herself unable to move.

"Meaghan!"

She shot up in bed. It had been a dream, just a dream. Looming over her bed was Derek, a concerned look on his face.

"Derek," Meaghan sighed as she fell back on her bed. No matter how often she had those nightmares, she always was rattled by them. "Why are you in my room? You know I get really freaked out by the thought of people watching me sleep." Derek just raised an eyebrow. That was his typical response when he found Meaghan acting weirdly.

"Do you know what today is?"

"Friday. Next time, just check a calendar." she responded. Morning was not a good time for her. Today was not starting off as a good day, possibly because it was the full moon. "Oh!"

"There we go," he said.

"That explains," she trailed off. Her nightmares were always worst around the full moon.

"What?"

"Nothing. What are we going to do?" Meaghan asked about Scott. It was inevitable that something would happen, they weren't that lucky.

"I don't know."

"And you're here to see if I would go talk to him?" Meaghan sat up as she spoke.

The clock on her nightstand showed that it was a little after nine in the morning. It was strange that Rachel had not woken her up yet.

"You know him better than I do."

"Well too bad, I have to work," she told him as she threw her purple sheets off her and got out of bed.

"Your shop's closed for the day." Meaghan turned around, glaring at him.

"What did you do?" She stressed every syllable.

"Nothing," he said feigning innocence, giving her a puppy eyed look. "Some pipes burst and flooded the cafe. Don't worry, your roommate already called the plumber."

"Fine. What am I supposed to say to him? 'Hey, so tonight you might want to lock yourself in a bomb shelter or something because you're about to go crazy?'" Derek did not respond. "See, you don't have a plan, and I sure as hell don't."

"I'll handle it."

"No, I'll talk to him. I have to set up his tutoring anyway." Meaghan walked over to her dresser and grabbed a change of clothes and walked across the hall to the bathroom. She and Rachel lived above the cafe, in a space that was anything but luxurious.

"Talk to the friend too." Meaghan had no issue hearing Derek's command.

"Why?" Derek did not respond. After pulling on her jeans and a blue tank top, Meaghan walked back into her room only to find that Derek had left. Letting of a sigh, Meaghan fell face forward on her mattress. She just wanted to go back to sleep until everything settled down.

* * *

The halls of Beacon Hill High School were full of students leaving for the day. She had easily found Scott stopped at his locker and approached him.

"Hey, Scott." He jumped at the sound of her voice and turned around.

"Meaghan! What are you doing here?" His heart was beating fast, their encounter in the woods must have freaked him out. In the moment, Meaghan realized she had no idea how she was supposed to face this situation.

"I, uh, do you want to meet for tutoring today?" Scott gave her an incredulous look.

"It's the second day of school."

"Right. I'll cut to the point. Have you been feeling alright lately? You seemed a little off when I ran into you in the woods." Scott did not respond. He was looking down the hallway with an expression Meaghan knew all too well. It was the way she looked at Peter when they were young and in love. Following his gaze, Meaghan saw a young girl with brown hair talking to Lydia Martin.

"Who is she?"

"Allison Argent. New girl." The response came from a tall guy in lacrosse gear, who had walked up behind her. Scott snapped his attention to the newcomer, narrowing his eyes. However, Meaghan was busy processing the information she had just been given. Argent.

"Uh, Scott. I have to go to the coffee shop, so just call me when you want to meet. Bye," she said awkwardly before walking away leaving Scott with his teammate.

When she got to her car, Meaghan drove straight to the outskirts of the woods. Her Prius was definitely not made to be an off road vehicle. She ran the rest of the way to the house and entered without knocking. Derek was leaning against the stairway, he must have heard her coming.

"I went to talk to Scott," she started before he interrupted her.

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing, well, sort of, I don't know. That's not the point." The whole thing had thrown her off.

"Did you talk to the friend?"

"No. Just listen. There's this new girl at Scott's school-"

"I really don't care." God, he could be so infuriating to her sometimes.

"Shut up." This got Derek's attention. Meaghan meant business when she snapped at him. "The girl's an Argent. I think they're back." Meaghan knew that there was little chance anyone by the name of Argent who showed up at Beacon Hill was not a hunter.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, and she's caught Scott's attention." Derek's eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what he had just been told.

"I'll handle it." With that, he headed to leave the house, but Meaghan grabbed his arm.

"I'm coming with you," she said looking him dead on in the eyes. She would not let him deal with this alone now that hunters were involved. They'd taken too much from her already.

"Later. I need some time to figure things out." Meaghan nodded and released his arm, allowing him to leave. Not knowing how long Derek would be, she decided to take a trip to clear her head, and there was something she needed to do.

* * *

"I brought chrysanthemums this time," Meaghan said as she placed the pink and yellow flowers in a vase of clean water. "I know you probably don't like them, but I think they're pretty, and there really isn't anything else I can do to make this room better." She glanced over at the burnt and unresponsive man sitting in the room with her. She thought it would get easier with time, but it still pained her to see him like that. He looked aged and the scarring masked the face that used to take her breath away. The dead eyes had no trace of the spark that once inhabited it. There used to be a twinkle in it whenever he was up to something that usually ended in the two of them sneaking back home late at night after a romantic evening under the stars.

"Um, so the Argents are back," she started to say as she sat on the edge of his bed facing him. "And um, Laura," she took a breath, "Laura's dead. There's an alpha who bit a teen that I know. Derek's back, but, um, he already visited you, so I guess you knew that." Wiping a tear from her eye, Meaghan started plucking her lip.

"I wish you were here to help. You've always been there for me." It was true. Whenever something upsetting happened, she could always count on his arms to be around her, proving that she was safe. At a time like this, she could use that security.


End file.
